andygoodliff

Dynamic Authority Amongst Baptists (?)

This post emerges from a comment I made in the Council discussion of the Faith & Unity report 'Knowing What We Believe'.

Where does authority lie within the Baptist Union? Is it with the Union's Trustees? Is it the Senior Management Team (the general secretary and general manager, the heads of the departments of ministry, mission, faith and unity, communications, finance)? It is with the Council Executives (Ministry, Mission, Faith & Unity) Is it with Council? Does it lie with Regional Ministers who are Team Leaders of their associations? Is it with Assembly or it is with the local church? Does it lie in part with our College Principals and Tutors as they shape and form generation after generation of Ministers? My answer to this question is to agree with a suggestion of Paul Fiddes that Baptists have 'a dynamic view of authority in the community, in which oversight flows to and fro between the personal and the communal' (Tracks and Traces, 2003, 87).

At its best authority and oversight for Baptists flows between the different groups ... never residing in one alone.  Discernment of the mind of Christ comes from listening to these broad range of voices.  At moments some voices will have more weight than others.  At moments some groups will take a lead, but they will not seek to act independently, but listen to the responses of others.  In the document On the Way of Trust (written by the Principals of the four English colleges in membership with the Baptist Union of Great Britain in 1997) they write that 'at their best, committees and councils, like church meetings, are bodies which corporately listen to the voice of Christ ... Strength of leadership rests not on the office persons hold, nor on the gift of personality they have, but on the quality of their service and the levels of trust nurtured and articulated within the community which recognises and respects them'.

Authority is dynamic, sometimes resting with the Trustees, sometimes with Council and sometimes with the other groups referred to above. No one group can claim sole authority. This is all dependent on a theology of trust between the different groups and constant requirement to corporately listen to each other.

Baptists and Anabaptists Reassessed

This was the title of the first lecture in the latest Centre for Christianity & Culture series on baptists origins given by Keith Jones (Rector, IBTS). The lecture was shaped by the story of a Lithuania Baptist pastor, Jonas Inkenas, whose grand-daughter is now teaching at IBTS. Keith focused his comments on how baptist life and thought are being reassesed on interdependency, ministry (especially trans-local), spirituality, and the role of women. The lecture will be downloadable at some point in the future through the oxford itunes site and I believe the series will also be published. 

Keith made two asides, which may not appear in the final published version of the lecture.  Firstly was a sideswipe at how he believed the BUGB had accomodated itself to the government's demands and created trustees of the union. This had altered our ecclesiology and our allowed the state to set the agenda for the church. Keith wondered why there had not been more voices of protest at the government's demands. We are still in the early days of having trustees and there is a definite tension around the decisions made to have trustees. The introduction of trustees happened just before I became a part of Council and so I am not able to comment on the making of decision and whether it was right. I think some theological and historical reflection would be helpful at some point. 

The second aside was how whether Regent's should have a portrait of Violet Hedger in Helwys Hall amongst all the men! Violet Hedger was the first woman to train for ministry at Regent's (1919-. This was part of his comments on the reassessment of the role of women in baptist history. Part of this reassessment is currently being done by a group within BU council and the fruit of their work will be coming to Council in March 2010.

Next week is Anthony R. Cross on baptism and baptist origins.

(On another baptist note, it seems the papers from baptist hermeneutics colloquium in January this year are not far off being published. I caught a brief exchange between Sean Winter and John Lyons on facebook.)

Festschrift for Nigel G. Wright (updated)

On his 60th birthday last week Nigel Wright, Principal of Spurgeon's was presented with a festschrift for his birthday: Challenging to Change: Dialogues with a Radical Baptist Theologian. Essays Presented to Dr Nigel G. Wright on His Sixtieth Birthday. It contains essays by many of the current leading baptist theologians Paul Fiddes, John Colwell, Stephen Holmes, Chris Ellis, Rob Ellis, plus Paul Goodliff (my dad), Pat Took and two former members of Spurgeon's staff Raymond Brown and R. Alistair Campbell, plus a token Anglican in Tom Smail (who co-authored with Nigel and Andrew Walker a book examaining charismatic renewal). It should be available to purchase soon ... apparently key an eye (again) on the Spurgeon's website.

I got my copy today (£10 incl. p&p) by phoning Spurgeon's to order a copy.

Contents

Introduction - David Coffey

'Baptists "Relating and Resourcing" in difficult times: A historical perspective' - Raymond Brown (former Tutor in Church History and Principal, Spurgeon's)

'New birth from Water and Spirit' - Alastair Campbell (former Tutor in New Testament, Spurgeon's)

'The Coherence of freedom: Can Church or State ever be Truly Free?' - John Colwell (former student, currently Tutor in Doctrine and Ethics, Spurgeon's)

'Being a minister: spirituality and the pastor' - Chris Ellis (former Principal of Bristol Baptist College)

'"The leadership of some ...": Baptist ministers as leaders?' - Rob Ellis (Principal of Regent's Park College)

'Something will come of nothing: on A Theology of the Dark Side' - Paul Fiddes (Professor of Systematic Theology, Oxford)

'Inclusive representation revisited' - Paul Goodliff (former student at Spurgeon's, currently Head of Ministry, BUGB)

'The radical ecclesiology of Nigel Wright' - Steve Holmes (former student and research fellow, Spurgeon's, now lecturer at University of St. Andrews)

'Church planting, peace and the ecclesial minimum' - Stuart Murray (former Tutor in Church Planting, Spurgeon's)

'Part of a Movement: Nigel Wright and Baptist Life' - Ian Randall (former Tutor in Church History, Spurgeon's, now Director of Research)

'When Wright was right' - Tom Smail (co-author with Andrew Walker and Nigel Wright of Charismatic Renewal)

'The Radical Evangelical: A Critical Appreciation' - Derek Tidball (former Principal, London School of Theology)

'Crown rights of the Redeemer' - Pat Took (Regional Minister, London Baptist Association and a Governor, Spurgeon's)

BWA response to 'A Common Word'

The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) have published their response to A Common Word, the open letter by Muslim religious leaders and scholars to the Christian churches. You can read it here. It was largely written under the auspices of Paul Fiddes, who is currently the Chair of the Commission on Doctrine and Inter-
Church Cooperation of the Baptist World Alliance.

Sally Nelson to give Whitley Lecture 2009

This year Revd Sally Nelson, who currently holds the BU scholarship and is carrying out full time research, will give next year's Whitley Lecture with the title:

A thousand crucifixions: The materialist subversion of the church?

This lecture examines the meaning of suffering and offers the thesis that a significant aspect of the church's witness is to be the mediator of this meaning in a materialist culture; in so doing the church can re-express the character of dissent for the 21st century.

Bristol Baptist College, Wed 7 January 2009, 3pm

Northern Baptist College, Tues 3 Mar 2009, 7.30pm

The Baptist Assembly, Sat 2 / Sun 3 May 2009

Scottish Baptist Theological Society Launch

Last night saw the launch of the Scottish Baptist Theology Society with an inaugural lecture by Steve Holmes on Baptists and the authority of scripture. This is a great idea, where is the UK  English (and Wales) version? There is the annual Whitley lecture, the George Beasley-Murray Memorial Lecture (given at Assembly), Bloomsbury Central looked like they might at one point be doing an annual lecture, and there is the bi-annual Baptist Doing Theology in Context Consultation, but there is no Baptist Theology Society - a regular space to share theology - although talking of a regular space, the amount of Baptist bloggers who are interested theologians seems to be ever increasing - Sean Winter, Jim Gordon, Simon Woodman, Neil Brighton, Catriona Gorton, Geoff Colmer, Craig Gardiner, Steve Holmes, Stuart Blythe, Simon Jones, Glen Marshall, Lucy Wright, Kez Lama, Andy Scott, Bob Almond and everyone else. So how about it, an English Baptist Theological Society?

Nigel Wright on Baptist Core Values

In his contribution to Under the Rule of Christ, Nigel Wright identifies two concerns he has with the Baptist Union's 5 Core Values for a Gospel People (first published in 1998).  First, he questions the value of being 'inclusive' and wonders whether it should be substituted for 'welcoming.'  The reason being that he is not sure 'whether it is possible for a confessional and morally committed movement to define itself as 'inclusive' in unambiguous terms' (p.97). 

His second concern is that 5 Core Values is often talked about as 'the 5 Core Values', as if they were fixed and there weren't anymore.  Nigel says 'I wish to propose that the document 5 Core Values be now revisited and revised as a constructive denominational exercise and into this discussion I wish to place two further values for consideration: faithfulness and freedom' (p.98).  Faithfulness because being a gospel people is about being faithful to Jesus Christ and freedom because our origins as Baptists are about being freed from the State and being free in Christ.

So what do you think? Do we need more Core Values? Is Nigel right in suggesting 'faithfulness' and 'freedom'?  Do you have alternatives or any more to add? Do you like the five current Core Values - prophetic, inclusive, sacrificial, missionary, worshipping?

I know one other Baptist theologian, John Colwell, who would prefer we call them 5 Core Virtues and not values. Virtues being something we embody, while values  are something we have.

Anthony Cross on The Evangelical Sacrament

You can get a copy of Anthony Cross' (British baptist theologian and historian) 'Friends of Bloomsbury Inaugural Lecture here. I'm hoping this might be an annual event (although no news about a 2008 lecture) - another chance for some Baptist theology! We need some! Anthony Cross' lecture is on baptism as the evangelical sacrament and part of a larger study towards a book to be published by Paternoster in 2009.

Baptists Doing Theology in Context

I'm back online and back from the 5th consultation of Baptists doing Theology in Context, held in Manchester last week. I gave a paper, some initial thoughts on what kind of theology of the child is present in infant dedication/presentation services - it was well received. It will find it's way into my larger piece of work (MTh Dissertation) looking at baptist theologies of children in the 20th century. Enough about me! Manchester was an opportunity to hear some wonderful papers and have good conversations. I finally met Jim (who has posted a list of all this year's papers here) and Catriona face-to-face after many blog conversations. It was also a good space to meet others. In a Baptist Union which seems these days to be doing less and less theological reflection, this bi-annual gathering is important to our theological health.

If you're interested in reading some of the papers from past consultations, I've made a list here of papers that have been published.

Under the Rule of Christ

Jim and Sean have already drawn attention to the finally released Under the Rule of Christ: Dimensions of Baptist Spirituality. But here's the contents page:

Preface

1. Baptists and Spirituality: a Rule of Life - Paul S. Fiddes and Stephen Finamore

2. Spirituality as Attentiveness: Stillness and Journey - Paul S. Fiddes

3. Spirituality in Suffering: a Defining Experience - Richard Kidd

4. Spirituality as Discipleship: the Anabaptist Heritage - Nigel Wright

5. Spirituality and Scripture: the Rule of the Word - James Gordon

6. Spirituality in Everyday Life: the View from the Table - John Weaver

7. Spirituality in Mission: Gathering and Grace - Christopher Ellis